As many companies do at the beginning of the year, Monument recently compiled a comprehensive list of our top wins from 2023 – to share with our team members and capture learnings that we can build on this year.

A “biggie” for our 2023 wins list was the incredible progress we made in our Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) capabilities. Monument has always prioritized ERM, recognizing its crucial role in navigating the complexities of our operations – and in keeping our teams, customers, and communities safe. However, in 2023, we achieved many significant ERM milestones as we formalized key procedures and refined our organizational approach to how we manage risk.

These efforts not only streamlined our processes and strengthened our ERM global team, but also led to a noticeable surge in the momentum of ERM gains across all Monument sites.

Given how important ERM is to our current and future customers, partners, and any company working in the manufacturing space, we would like to share our top three ERM learnings from this transformative year:

#1 A Global Team = Enhanced Coordination and Collaboration

“We’ve always had people supporting ERM in their roles across the company, but we didn’t have dedicated resources or a structured group to fully leverage the power of a global, unified team,” said Rick Caines, Executive Consultant. “By creating a clear, global ERM organization – and by bringing together experts from different sites and functional areas, we enhanced our ability to coordinate and communicate effectively on all risk-related matters.
 

“Our global team now serves as a centralized hub for sharing valuable insights and best practices, breaking down silos, and fostering a culture of transparency. This collaborative approach has enabled us to identify and address potential risks with a broader and more nuanced understanding, ensuring a proactive and comprehensive ERM strategy.”

And let’s broaden this discussion beyond ERM for a moment! Over the past couple of years, Monument has strengthened our global organization across all functions – to become more scalable and responsive to customer needs.

“We’re growing as a company, and that means we need to be proactive in ensuring we have a nimble organization with the right people in the right roles,” said Adam Pingel, Vice President, Global Operations & Supply Chain. “Our creation of a global ERM team is the perfect example of how the right organization can help us seize opportunities, share innovations, and drive excellence for Monument and the customers we serve.”

#2 Standardized ERM Protocols Boost Transparency and Consistency

Throughout 2023, the new global ERM team implemented standardized risk assessment procedures that provide a consistent framework for evaluating risks across the organization. This not only enhances the accuracy of risk identification, but also allows for a more comprehensive analysis of potential impacts. And a more standardized approach across processes empowers our teams to make informed decisions and allocate resources strategically to mitigate identified risks.

A great example of this was the team’s successful approval of Monument’s Risk Tolerance Criteria (RTC). (Monument had been operating under a draft form since 2017.) Tim Prowell, Global Process Safety Leader, was the key player in bringing this RTC to final approval and implementation.

“We certainly didn’t invent the idea of Risk Tolerance Criteria, and actually much of the foundation comes from OSHA guidance,” said Jody Caines, Enterprise Risk Management and Governance Leader. “And even though our site teams were using robust criteria, our new global team had the ability and call-to-action to review all of our documentation, identify best practices, and provide a consistent, clear structure that ensures alignment across different departments and geographic locations – promoting consistency in risk assessment and decision-making.”

#3 Site and Functional Wins Can (and Should!) Be Leveraged Globally 

Here’s a favorite 2023 win to illustrate this very point… Last year, the Monument Brandenburg, Kentucky site completed a very successful full gap assessment regarding Ethylene Oxide Storage & Handling per OSHA-related regulations and RAGAGEP practices – and those learnings and best practices are now supporting audits of hazardous materials at other Monument sites.

“This wasn’t just a paper exercise at Brandenburg; a site team led by Wendell Borges, site leader, visited three suppliers to capture industry best practices for consideration at our site,” said Rick. “We scored well on the audit, but the assessment uncovered some opportunities for improvement – and we’ve already started on the implementation plans to close the gaps through operating discipline and capital related projects”.

As the Brandenburg project was wrapping up, Monument audit teams kicked off additional projects at all six of our sites to identify (and close!) any gaps in our loading and unloading processes for highly hazardous chemicals.

“These are deep dives into processes that are already strong,” said Jody. “So the best part of the Brandenburg EO audit story is that there’s always room to do more and leverage learnings across Monument.”

“And the best part of the overall Monument ERM story is that we have a team who wants to ask the tough questions and take those deep dives to figure out how we can do things better,” said Rick. “That’s why customers trust us with their toughest chemistries – and that’s why we’re going to keep learning from each other and refining our safeguards – this year and every year.”